I have heard the "bad press" about the Chaparral NWMP carbine, but I have one and have no complaints with it … mind you, I believe that mine is literally the sixth carbine in their production run. (I base that on the fact that they serial numbered (or, at any rate, began with numbering) their carbines sequentially using the known/documented serial numbers of the original NWMP Winchesters … the full NWMP serial number list is included in an appendix to "Arms & Accoutrements of the Mounted Police, 1873-1973", and my Chaparral carbine has serial number 2750, the sixth number on that list …
One thing the Chaparrals are noted for is superbly accurate barrels … I haven't shot my own competitively, very much, but I did place first with it in a local "Long Range Black Powder Cartridge Rifle" match (not
super long range, mind you … steel gongs out to 300 yards) but I
was competing against others using single-shot "long range" rifles.
I always thought the reproduction Spanish Meter sight on mine was a bit "crude" …
… and that the carbine might do even better shooting if I replaced the sight with a better quality sight ... so I tracked down and acquired a modern made replacement sight (possibly one of the ones Coal Creek Griff was mentioning above) but once I received it, even though the lines and edges are "crisper", I decided that it wouldn't offer enough of an improvement over the existing sight picture to make replacing it worthwhile … so I've still got the darn thing around here somewhere, if you might be interested ...
As I recall, it is not blued, nor are any of the range numbers marked on it, (things I was going to have to remedy if I used it) but I'd have to track it down to be sure. (Just went and looked in my main "gun parts" container, and it isn't there, so I'll have to do some digging.)